Last night i was taking my girlfriend homw to her palce about 20 minutes away. The rain was VERY heavy and I was taking it slow. We were on the road and I noticed people were having a hell of a time crossing a section 100 years or so in front of me. I turned my car around to go find an alternate route and it stalled - much like when you forget to put the clutch in coming to a stop.

It would not restart. I was in the middle of this road - about 4-5 inches of water was flowing around my car. Damn storm drains weren't doing jack. I put my hazards on and stayed in the car until a guy with a truck came by and pushed me to the business across the street (higher ground).

While I was waiting for a tow I attempted to start it about 3 times.

1st time: I would only get a click. It's a lot like when I had my Taurus SHO and the starter died. It did feel like the car wanted to move forward even though i had the clutch pushed in.

2nd try: I hear it turning over a bit then nothing - I felt a little movement through the drivetrain.

3rd try: Nothing - no sounds or anything (battery was pretty low though)

Now this morning I charged up my battery overnight and it just clicks like the first try. No cranking at all...

So now we come to the "what now" bit. What the hell happened?

My thoughts:
1) Engine is siezed due to water in the cylinders
2) Clutch plate is stuck to the disc
3) I shorted out something

Any help would be appreciated. Please don't call me a dumbass either... flash floods happen. As of right now the car is at my palce. I can do any amount of diagnostics that I need to do. I'm going to try and pull the spark plugs today and see if I can turn the engine.

 

how hi was the water on the car do you a CAI, change your oil and youll be able to tell 100% if you have water in the engine, idk about the tranny

 

I don't think that the water was high enough to affect my CAI, but youy never know. Ironically I changed the oil yesterday[&:] I took a measurement out of the car after it stalled with my foot - was a good 4-5, maybe 6 inches of flowing water.

 

Thats a lot fo f**kin water, check the oil anyway, open yuor intake and see if you can see water\wet filter

 

did you try to scan for codes. possibly something in them could tell you what happened.

 

I KNOW my filter was pretty damp, but that might've been from the rain as I was opening my hood.

 

Your maf shouldnt work if it is wet. Your going to need to check the oil for milkinees, and you may have to change itat 100-200 miles 2 or three times until all the water is gone (you can use reg oil for the short time), swap plugs, dry filter and maf. If you undo the maf, the car should start.

 

Alright I pulled the plugs and they didn't look that bad. A few were wet so a little water got in there, but they were m,ostly dry (will post a pic of them tonight). Upon inspection of the oil - YES some water got in there, but not nearly as much as I was thinking.

Another idea - I bet there's some water in my starter... I think I will pull it in the next few days and see what's up.

Also I'm thinking of putting a teaspoon of marvel oil in the combustion chamber via the spark plug hole just incase something is stuck. I didn't notoce any evidence of catastrphic failure via my plugs or oil so I might as well try...

 

Let the car dry out. How old is your battery?

 

Battery is from 04, but still puts out plenty of juice